Jackie and Campy: The Untold Story of Their Rocky Relationship and the Breaking of Baseball's Color Line

Kashatus's (Connie Mack's '29 Triumph) saga of the integration of baseball and two of its earliest black stars is compelling reading. Like Huhn's book, above, Kashatus's story goes beyond baseball as he delves into the rivalry, views, and racial attitudes of Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella—Brooklyn Dodgers teammates who led the team to the 1955 World Series title—all the while reflecting on the state of race relations in America. Robinson is compared to activist W.E.B. DuBois, and Campy is seen more as a follower of the ideas of accommodation as exemplified, e.g., by Booker T. Washington. Kashatus trails Campanella and Robinson and other early black Dodgers on a collision course where Jackie and Campy barely put aside their differences for the good of the team before becoming truly estranged. Jackie saw Campy as an "Uncle Tom," while Campanella thought it best to put aside his feelings about race for the good of the team and to make a living. Kashatas relates the Chase Hotel (St. Louis) incident of 1954, which was the telling blow between the two, reflecting their cavernous differences.